53
February 1925
TH E K IN G L S //ÌB U S I N E S S
sheltered the deadly visitor, is shut out; and the air, so vital to its life, is excluded. And are not light and life essential for the church? Christ—the Anointed of God—is He not the Light of thè World? The Holy Spirit—is He not the Spirit of Life? Is it not true that if Jesus Christ is degraded to the stature of “ the best man that ever lived” ;—and the Holy Spirit is held to be, not a person, but only an influence,—this faith-destroying and death-producing moss of doubt and denial will soon robe the church in the winding-sheet of a mere form of godliness without the power thereof? When will the chil
THE MENACE OF THE MOSS ^ Mr. Pace, the famous cartoonist, who is aiding so consistently and constantly in the battle against Mod ernism in school and church, has sent us a most suggestive cartoon from Florida, where he has been observing the devastating effects of the delightful but deceptive Spanish moss. Those familiar with the Southland need no elabora tion of the theme, but we are asking those who are not, to picture a stately tree, lifting its head high in the air, clothed in living green, waving its branches in the
breeze, shimmering and glistening in the sunlight, full of life and vigor, designed of God to be a bless ing to man. Some day, some
dren of God awake to the p e r i l s con fronting them, arise from the dead, shake off the deadly moss of Modernism, a n d manifest in all its glory and power the life of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God? APPLYING THE IMPLIED Dr. Herbert Booth Smith, pastor of Im manuel Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, made an address in Santa Paula recently on “ Twentieth Cen tury Gideons. ”js We have not a full re port of the sermon, but the p a p e r in which the news item appeared, uses this phrase:. “ Dr. Smith appealed for more ‘applied Christian ity ’, declaring that
how, by b i r d or breeze, a soft little b it. of moss settles upon a branch, and at once b e g i n s to feed upon the life of the tree. Soft to the touch, lovely to look upon, hanging like a decoration upon the boughs, swaying in the balmy breezes, there is no sugges tion of fangs or poi son in its tiny grip. But, s l o w l y but surely, it weaves its woof over the foli age, shutting out air and sunlight, smoth ering its breathing, until the s t a t e l y monarch, robbed of its life, stark and b a r e save for its winding s h e e t of gray moss, bows its head a victim to the innocent appearing but insidious and deadly parasite. The tree is dead! Is not this an apt illustration of the destructive work of Modernism? Was not Christianity planted upon American soil by the Pilgrim Fathers? And is not Modernism the Spanish moss which is sapping its very life? For fifty years we have watched it as it has slowly, secretly but surely festooned itself upon the tree of Christian doctrine, wafted, first, from the schools where, with soft, sweet words concerning “ Jesus and His love” (not “ Jesus Christ our Lord” but just “ Jesus” ),^selecting only those passages of Scripture which set forth the character and example of Jesus; with loving lullabys from lips anointed with honey from Hades; with no angelic testimony to the Virgin-born Christ, but just ecstatic essays on the beauty of His life and character,—the Modernist teach ers have artistically draped their lovely moss and the breeze from their brazen lips has wafted it from branch to branch. Closer and closer it clings, until the light, which should shed its rays upon the tree which has
there is too much ‘implied Christianity’ in this age.” We wish we could have heard the' entire message, but the quotation found a response in our heart and we said “Amen!” and are passing on the thoughts which were evoked by Dr. Smith’s suggestive sentence : The Evangelical Church stands for the greatest reve lation ever made to mortal man—God’s own disclosure of Himself—His power and His purpose, as manifested in the past and promised for the future. It stands for “ In the beginning, God! Through the centuries, God! In the ages to come, God ! Past, present and future, God !” The Church is tbe custodian and representa tive of it all. It publicly assumes to represent Him who, as God manifest in the flesh, by. word and work, by death and resurrection, revealed His unlimited power and His primal purpose—the salvation and sanc tification of sinners. Not by lip only, but by life, is the church to repre sent her Lord. The foundation is laid in faith,—faith in what He is; faith in what He has done; faith in what He is able to do and wants to do through His representatives. Human philosophy and human pride have no place in His program. Humility must char-
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